Chapter 3756 — Another Run

And so, even these disciples of the Soaring Heavens Pavilion, for all their confidence, were exceedingly cautious now, most of them selecting only around a dozen spirit herb seeds, and the more generous among them no more than twenty. Even Kang Jingming, the top favorite and a pill refiner by training, chose only twenty despite his singular advantage.

After the Soaring Heavens Pavilion came the elders of the Profound Mechanism Pavilion, more seasoned and steady still, who of course would not make any reckless, idiotic choices; they too generally fell between ten and twenty.

As for the newcomers of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, the weakest and least assured of them all, they uniformly chose the bare minimum of ten spirit herb seeds. Had the rules not constrained them, they would have chosen even fewer.

True, Xiao Che and a few others might not lose to the newcomers of the other two pavilions in raw strength, but one must not forget that cultivating spirit herb seeds demands not only abundant true qi but also abundant spiritual qi. If a cave dwelling lacks spiritual qi, no amount of true qi will avail—the seeds will wither and die all the same.

And though Xiao Che's No. 2 Mountain Cave Dwelling was already quite good among the Azure Cloud Pavilion's newcomers, it could not compare at all with the dwellings of the other two pavilions' newcomers. The worst of theirs still held spiritual qi concentrations a good margin higher than his No. 2 Mountain Cave Dwelling.

On that premise, choosing only ten spirit herb seeds was plainly the wise course, for given the straitened circumstances of these Azure Cloud newcomers, they likely could not keep even those ten alive. Choosing more would only be digging their own graves, would it not?

Rather than foolishly daydreaming about how many points they might reap in this stage, they would do better to think hard about how to avoid deductions—that was the more realistic and sensible approach.

While the other newcomers queued to draw their seeds, Wei Zhao stood at the very back of the line, silently observing the forty kinds of spirit herb seeds the herb garden offered—and one among them made his eyes light up at once.

Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass! Among these forty kinds of spirit herb seeds, there was actually Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass!

The effeminate chief steward had said from the start that among the forty kinds there were both common and uncommon varieties, but Wei Zhao still had not dared to dream that Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass seeds would be among them!

After all, in terms of rarity, the value and scarcity of Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass far exceeded that of ordinary spirit herb seeds—to Wei Zhao, this was a pie dropped straight from heaven.

His heart blazed at once. Though he had only recently advanced to the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage, he believed in preparing for rain while the sky was clear: once he spent a little more time consolidating his cultivation, he could begin preparing to assault the mid Foundation Establishment stage.

And the most crucial link in that chain was the Foundation Establishment Golden Pill, whose own key ingredient was Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass.

Last time, at great trouble and at the deadly risk of being hunted by the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle, he had barely managed to harvest a single stalk from the cliff face. Wei Zhao reckoned that to obtain another stalk of Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass, he would have to rack his brains to the dregs.

Never mind whether another could be found on the outskirts of the back mountain—even if one did exist there, in his present status he had no way in. The back mountain, one must remember, was sealed by layer upon layer of prohibitions; without the permission of the Back Mountain Hall, no one could come and go freely, and Wei Zhao, a newcomer of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, was naturally no exception.

To think that this precious thing, which he might not obtain even by racking his brains, should now be delivered to his door of its own accord in an examination task!

Yet though the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass seeds were indeed among the forty, obtaining them would not be so easy, for his only right was to call out a number and then draw the corresponding number of seed tags at random from the box.

In other words, unless Wei Zhao called for all forty spirit herb seeds, he might well let this once-in-a-lifetime Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass slip through his fingers!

But when every other newcomer had called for twenty at most, to call for forty right off the bat—unless he were a certified idiot—would plainly invite suspicion!

And Wei Zhao, though he had always cut an eccentric figure, by every sign he had given—especially after taking two god-tier perfect scores in succession—was now in everyone's eyes not remotely the sort to be lumped in with certified idiots.

Seeing that the newcomers ahead were almost done drawing and his turn was nearly at hand, Wei Zhao could not help frowning in some vexation.

This heaven-sent chance to obtain Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass seeds was one he absolutely did not want to—and absolutely could not—let slip, for once missed, obtaining the grass thereafter would be a thousandfold harder; even if he racked his brains to sneak into the back mountain, he might not find it.

If it truly could not be helped, then he would have no choice but to shock the world and choose all forty spirit herb seeds!

Wei Zhao gritted his teeth in secret. Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass was the key to refining the Foundation Establishment Golden Pill, and that pill bore directly on whether his strength could rise swiftly enough to meet the foreseeable and unforeseeable crises to come. Weighed against that, being suspected for it was a price he would simply have to pay—there was no time to fret over such things.

At worst, he could fob them off with his identity as a pill refiner. Even if these people grew suspicious, they would not connect it to the Foundation Establishment Golden Pill for some time yet, so the risk was not too great—better that than letting the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass seeds slip away.

By the time everyone ahead had finished drawing, it was Wei Zhao's turn—and he was the very last.

"Junior Brother Wei Zhao, go on—how many spirit herb seeds do you plan to call for?" said Meng Jueming, who was charged with keeping order among the Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers, with a sidelong glance at Wei Zhao.

In his heart he wanted nothing more than to be rid of this thorn in his side who opposed him time and again, but in a public setting with all eyes upon them, he still had to maintain the demeanor of a steward senior brother.

Besides, this examination stage was essentially presided over by the herb garden's people; if Xu Lingchong, the great young master Xu, did not step forward, Meng Jueming alone had no standing to speak with them at all, and naturally could not stir up trouble from within. Even had he wished to make things difficult for Wei Zhao, he had no opening to play tricks and could only follow the procedure honestly.

Still, though he had no chance to play tricks in secret, there was no harm in a few lofty, barbed remarks—what if this fellow Wei Zhao, addled by his earlier victories, lost his head and rashly called for twenty or thirty spirit herb seeds? RS